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Qld Govt lifts 30-year ban on uranium mining

BRENDAN TREMBATH: The Queensland Government has lifted a decades-old ban on uranium mining. The state's Premier Campbell Newman says the Prime Minister's recent trip to India prompted the decision, along with the potential financial benefits.

Queensland will join Western Australia, South Australia and the Northern Territory in mining uranium for export. But conservationists describe the uranium mining industry as high risk, low return.

Stephanie Smail reports.

STEPHANIE SMAIL: Uranium hasn't been mined in Queensland since the Mary Kathleen site in the north-west of the state was closed in 1982. Exploration was allowed briefly in the mid-1990s, but the former Queensland premier Peter Beattie reinstated a blanket ban soon after and it's been in place ever since.

The current Premier Campbell Newman ruled out changing that policy before and after this year's state election. But now he's changed his mind

CAMPBELL NEWMAN: There are no real sound policy reasons why there should be a ban on uranium mining in the state of Queensland. Uranium is mined in South Australia, in the Northern Territory, in WA. With the Prime Minister's statement about uranium exports to India there is no earthly reason why Queenslanders should miss out on the economic opportunities and the jobs from uranium mining in this state.

STEPHANIE SMAIL: Campbell Newman has attributed his backflip to Federal Government moves to shore up new markets for Australian uranium overseas including the Prime Minister Julia Gillard's recent trip to India.

CAMPBELL NEWMAN: The Prime Minister and the Labor Federal Government have made it absolutely crystal clear that they support uranium mining in this nation and its export to responsible foreign governments and companies in those jurisdictions.

We're had Martin Ferguson, the Federal Minister, some months ago essentially telling my Government that we should allow uranium mining.

STEPHANIE SMAIL: The Minerals Council of Australia has welcomed the move. CEO Mitchell Hooke says Queensland's uranium deposits are valued between $18 billion and $20 billion. He says any bans on mining uranium in Australia are purely ideological.

MITCHELL HOOKE: The fact that we have 19 safeguards agreements with countries all around the world. The fact that we have some of the largest resources in the world and that we're a major exporter to the United States, Japan, Europe, Republic of Korea, none of that really seemed to resonate with those who had a philosophical or an ideological opposition to uranium mining.

STEPHANIE SMAIL: Conservationists are furious at the Queensland Government's about-face.

Dave Sweeney from the Australian Conservation Foundation says the Premier Campbell Newman wrote to the organisation earlier this month insisting the ban wouldn't be lifted. He says the backflip is unacceptable and the economic benefits of uranium mining are no excuse.

DAVID SWEENEY: The mining sector is a whale, the uranium is a minnow. It produces and contributes about $750-800 million a year to the national coffers, or that's what it generates. It sounds like a lot to an individual. It's not much to a mining sector.

DAVID SWEENEY: For Queensland to turn its back on renewables, to turn its back on clean agricultural sector, to run the risk of leaking tailings dams throughout western Queensland, that is a very bad decision.

STEPHANIE SMAIL: Mitchell Hooke from the Minerals Council of Australia says about 10,000 tonnes of uranium is already being exported from Australia every year. He says the industry is safe for those who mine it and the communities nearby.

MITCHELL HOOKE: There are not health risks to people who live and operate in the mines. The companies have very clear and discernible operations and protocols to ensure that U3O8 which goes out as yellow cake as a very low-grade material doesn't have the risks that other Australians are concerned about and it's something that we've been doing pretty well.

STEPHANIE SMAIL: The Premier Campbell Newman says a report on the infrastructure and regulations required to support the industry will be delivered early next year but mining is unlikely to commence any time soon. He says the Federal Government will shoulder a lot of the regulatory responsibility.

CAMPBELL NEWMAN: The export and mining of uranium is Australia is covered quite significantly by Federal Government legislation, the Federal Environmental Protection Biodiversity Conservation Act and I'm sure that the Federal Government's strict guidelines will be very important in the way that the industry progresses in Queensland.